"Game of Thrones" Countdown: George R.R. Martin Shares Season 3 Changes With Fans

"Game of Thrones" returns Sunday on HBO

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Peter Dinklage portrays Tyrion Lannister in a scene from "Game of Thrones."

Updated at 9:55 AM EST on Friday, Mar 29, 2013

Changes are afoot, "Game of Thrones" fans!

The HBO fantasy hit's season three premiere is just days away and E! Ne been bringing you exclusive scoop and interviews with the cast all week to celebrate.

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Thursday's interviews are with the series' author George R.R. Martin and executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who talked to us about changes from the books in season three, killing off beloved characters and more...

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"There are going to be some changes," Martin, who serves as an executive producer on the series says. "I know some of my fans that are real purists will probably be upset that there are small changes, but nonetheless the cast majority of people who are fans of the books are going to like that they see on screen very much."

Alas, no fan, of the book or series variety, likes seeing their favorite characters killed, but that's the name of the game on Game of Thrones. "It's a risk in some sense," Martin explains of making the decision to kill off characters in the series. "You are going to lose some readers. I have gotten letters and I'm sure HBO will get letters. 'How could you do that? It was very upsetting!' But I'm telling a story about a war, and people die in wars."

And while it's sad for fans to lose characters, it's also sad for the executive producers, as Benioff tells us, "You become kind of family after working together for so long and some of these people have become close friends. Once they are dead on the show, they're not coming back."